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(No Model.)

B. M. APPLETON.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 391,291. Patented Oct. 16, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT M. APPLETON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,291, dated October16, 1888.

Application filed January 26, 1888. Serial No. 261,933. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ROBERT M. APPLETON, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain and Ireland, and a resident of Boston, Suffolk county,Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements inCircular-KnittingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide means for so feeding acontinuous re-enforcing thread to the spring-beard needles of anordinary round-knitting machine that said thread can be knitted into thefabric throughout any predetermined portion or portions ofthe coursearound the head and allowed to float throughout the remaining portion orportions, the length of the float being as great as desired; and thisobject I attain in the manner which I will now proceed to describe.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram representing in planview sufficient of an ordinary spring-beard-needle knitting-machine toillustrate my invention. Fig. 2isadiagram showing a section of theknitted tube produced. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the combined stitchand presser wheel forming the subject of my invention, and Figs. 4 and 5are diagrams illustrating different methods of reenforcing portions ofstockings by the use of said combined stitch and presser wheel. Fig. 6is a diagram showing in a flat plane the charactor of the taperendedpatch referred to hereinafter.

It has long been a desideratum to re-enforce with an additional threadportions of a tube of knitted fabric produced upon a circularknittingmachine employing spring-beard needles; but owing to the construction ofsuch machines this has heretofore been considered impracticable. Recentattempts in this direction have been based upon the plan of cutting orbreaking the re-enforcing thread after it has been fed to a certainnumber of needles of the head, and completing the rotation withoutbecause it cannot be adopted when the menforcing thread is of a colordifferent from that of the main knittingthread, the re-enforcing patchhaving broken or irregular edges, owing to the fact that there is nomeans of insuring the feeding of the re-enforcing thread to a definitenumber of needles or to a definitely-located set of needles in eachcourse.

In carrying out my invention, therefore, I use a continuous re-enforcingthread, which is applied to and forms stitches on a certain number ofneedles around the head, but fails to form stitches on the remainingneedles, and is directed away from the various burrs which operate inconjunction with the needles in a spring-beard-needle machine, thethread always being applied to the same number of needles in eachcourse, and the set of needles which receives the thread in each coursebearing a fixed and definite relation to thelike set of needles in anadjoining course, so that a reenforcing patch having a regular outlinemust necessarily result.

In the drawings, a: 00 represent the needles of the machine, a being thelooping-wheel; b, the presser-wheel; d, the landingwheel; f, theknocking-over wheel; 9, the push-back, and h the clearing wheel, allconstructed and operating as usual in an ordinary knitting-machine ofthe class to which my invention relates, i being the guide which directsthe knitting-thread to the looper-wheel a. In advance of thelooping-wheel (L, however, is located what I term a combined stitch andpresser wheel, m, which has part way around the same projecting teeth ofthe same character as those of the looping-wheel, and in the remainingportion teeth differing slightly therefrom in the respect pointed outhereinafter, this wheel being employed in connection with a guidem,which receives the re-enforcing thread and directs it to the wheel.

When it is desired to apply the re-enforc ing thread to the same needlesin each course of stitches, so as to produce a rectangular re-enforcingpatch upon the knitted tube, the wheel at must have teeth equal innumber tothe needles of the head; but only a portion of these teeth actto apply the thread to the needles,the rest of the wheel being blankthatis to say, having the spaces between the teeth filled up so that thisportion of the wheel serves to press down or close the beards of theneedles, the reenforcing thread consequently running outside of saidbeards and failing to form stitches on the needles so pressed. Thus, ifthe re-enforcing patch is to extend,say,hal f-way around the knittedtube, one-half of the teeth of the wheel mwould be operative and theother half of the Wheel would be blank. I

As there are the same number of teeth in the wheel as there are needlesin the head, it follows that each tooth works in conjunction with thesame needle in each course; hence absolute certainty in the applicationof the thread must result. It is necessary, however, that there shall beno undue slack in the floating portion of the thread and that saidthread shall, when the blanked portion of the wheel m is pressing uponthe needles, be carried up, so as to be delivered over the tops of theneedles, and thus clear the various burrs of the machine which actsubsequently to said wheel m,- hence I form in the blanked portion ofthe wheel a deep groove, 8, instead of the shallow groove formed in theteeth of the acting portion of the wheel, as shown in Fig. 3. The threadenters this deep groove, and hence is not confined rigidly between thebeards of the needles and the blank face of the wheel acting upon thesame, but lies loosely in the groove and is drawn forward by the pull ofthe fabric, so that said floating portion of the thread is caused to liesnugly against or cling to the tube of fabric in the process ofknitting, thus clearing the various burr-wheels which act upon thestitches on the needles.

My invention also permits the introduction of the re-enforcing-thread inthe form of a patch having tapered ends, instead of a rectangular patch,the wheel m in this case having a limited number of teeth, more or lessthan the needles of the head, so that the position of the re-enforcingthread advances or recedes one or more needles in each successivecourse, the number depending upon the sharpness or bluntness of taperdesired. (See Fig. 6.) These taperended patches of reenforcing threadmay be applied to an ordinary plainknitted web, or the extra thread maybe used for re-enforcing one or more taper-ended elastic gussets formedin the tube, as set forth in my patent, No. 243,425, dated June 28,1881, the stitch and presser wheel in this case having but one toothmore or less than the needles of the head, and a tucked presser-wheelbeing employed in place of the plain presserwheel I), for the purpose offorming the taperended elastic gusset by tucking the stitches formed bythe main knitting-thread.

By tucked presser-wheel I mean a wheel notched or recessed throughout aportion of its periphery, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, so that onone rotation of the head alternate needlessay, for instance, the needles1 3 5, &c.'-around a part of the head will not be pressed, but willretain their stitches, these needles being therefore said to betueked,while on the next rotation of the head the needles which werebefore tucked will'he pressed and the intermediate needles, 2 4 6, 8m,will be tucked, thus producing what is termed a oneand-one tuck.

To produce the tapering or inclined ends on the tucked gusset thus made,the periphery of the presser-wheel is so proportioned in respect to theneedles in the head that the tucking will not always be upon the sameneedles. For instance, if there are, say, three hundred needles inthehead, and in the first course the needles from 150 to 300 representthe extent of the tucked portion, on the next course the tucked portionmay be represented by the needles from 149 to 299, and on the nextcourse by the needles from 148 to298, and so on.

I have not shown in the drawings any sinker or dividing-wheel such as isusually employed adjacent to the looper-wheel a; but such adividing-wheel may be used, if desired, and one may also be usedadjacent to the wheel m, although the looper-wheel a in most casesperforms acceptably the function of a dividingwheel for said wheel m.

In Fig. 4 I have shown adiagram of a stocking having the toe, sole,heel, calf, and knee provided With rectangular re-enforcing patches inaccordance with my invention; and in Fig. 5 I have shown a stockinghaving the heel, calf, and knee provided with taper-ended reenforcepatches, and it will be evident that the re-enforcing patches may beapplied to any one or more of thesev portions, as required.

I am well aware that it is a common practice to block or plug theordinary loopingwheel of a spring-beard-needle knitting-machine for thepurpose of forming fancy stripes or other special designs with the mainknitting-thread. A small wheel, however, such as the ordinarylooping-wheel, is not available for the purpose of introducing are-enforcing thread, the floating portion of which may extend more thanhalf-way around the head. A wheel for this purpose must, like mycombined stitch and presser wheel, have teeth or projectionsapproximating in number to the number of needles in the headthat is tosay, the wheel must have precisely the same number of teeth orprojections as there are needles or a limited number, more or less.

When the machine has two or more feeds, I may in some cases substitutemy combined stitch and presser wheel for one of the loopwheels of themachine. In all cases, however, care must be taken that the portions ofthe reenforcing thread which do not form stitches are so governed as todraw in or cling closely to the tube of fabric which is being produced,so that there will be no entanglement of the floating portions of thethread with the various burr-wheels which act upon the stitches.

I am aware that it has been proposed to introduce a separate thread in aknitted tube produced upon a spring-beard-needle machine by the use of aseparate thread-guide operated upon bya cam, so that it is alternatelythrown into position to feed its thread to the needles and moved awayfrom such position; but this device lacks the simplicity of constructionand accuracy of operation which are prominent advantages of the combinedstitch and presser wheel forming the subject of my invention.

I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Thecombination of the needles, burrs, presser and knitting-thread guide ofa knitting-machine with a re-enforcing -thread guide, and a combinedstitch and presser wheel having teeth approximating in number to thenumber of needles in the head, but blanked throughout a portion of itscircumference, all substantially as specified.

2. The combination of the needles, burrs, presser and knitting-threadguide of a knitting-machine with a re-enforcing-thread guide, and acombined stitch and presser wheel having teeth approximating in numberto the number of needles in the head, but blanked throughout a portionof its circum' ference, and having in said blanked portion athread-receiving groove of greater depth than the recesses in the actingteeth of the wheel, all substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the needles, burrs, and knitting-thread guide of aknitting-machine with a re-enforcing-thread guide, acombined stitch andpresser wheel having-teeth approximating in number to the number ofneedles in the head, but blanked throughout a portion of itscircumference, and a notched or tuck presser wheel for the mainknittingthread, all substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT M. APPLETON.

Witnesses:

F. D. RoBBINs, J As. W. ALLEN.

